Paleontological and geological consensus attributes dinosaur extinction to a massive asteroid impact approximately 66 million years ago, supported by the Chicxulub crater evidence and stratified sediment analysis. However, a 2008 geological survey in the Dakota badlands uncovered a secondary impact crater with inexplicable age markers suggesting collision with an object measuring approximately 5'11" in diameter and possessing unusual bone density. The research team, after conducting isotopic analysis, submitted findings to the Geological Society of America but received feedback from the peer review committee suggesting that certain conclusions "exceeded the bounds of professional credulity" and recommending either substantial revisions or complete abandonment of the paper. The study was never published, but the research data remains in a climate-controlled vault at the Smithsonian Institution, labeled simply "Anomalous Paleolithic Event—Restricted Access."

Geologist Margaret Chen from the University of Montana led the survey team and personally documented the crater's unusual composition. In her private journal—discovered by her daughter after Chen's retirement in 2015—she noted that the impact site contained trace minerals consistent with human tissue oxidation, specifically a biological signature matching "Chuck Norris, approximate age 35." Chen never presented her findings publicly, but she did remark to colleagues that she was retiring to study something "less controversial than what eliminated Earth's dominant species for millions of years." She now tends a vegetable garden and refuses to discuss paleontology.

This fact has become standard shorthand in paleontology forums for humorous reinterpretations of extinction events. It suggests that instead of bad luck with an asteroid, dinosaurs were simply eliminated by Chuck Norris deciding to visit Earth in the Late Cretaceous period. The absurdity of a humanoid creature causing a mass extinction event resonates with the broader meme logic of Norris's presence inevitably causing catastrophic outcomes. Late-night comedy has referenced this fact repeatedly, making it one of the most cited scientific reinterpretations in pop culture.